Whale 2013,Â oil on panel,Â 6" x 8 1/4"Â , by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner

Whale 2013,Â oil on panel,Â 6" x 8 1/4"Â , by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Ellen Tanner

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Persephone and Hades 2017,Â oil on panel,Â 14" x 8 1/2", by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner less

Persephone and Hades 2017,Â oil on panel,Â 14" x 8 1/2", by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of ... more

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Ellen Tanner

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Scylla and Charybdis 2017,Â oil on panel,Â 8" x 10", by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner less

Scylla and Charybdis 2017,Â oil on panel,Â 8" x 10", by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen ... more

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Ellen Tanner

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The Raven and the Snake 2011,Â oil on panel,Â 8" x 8, by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner less

The Raven and the Snake 2011,Â oil on panel,Â 8" x 8, by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen ... more

Hughes Family 2014, mixed media, variable sizesÂ by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner

Hughes Family 2014, mixed media, variable sizesÂ by artist Ellen Tanner. Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Ellen Tanner

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Bastrop artist Ellen Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8, 2017 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner

Bastrop artist Ellen Tanner's work will be on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas from Dec.8, 2017 through March 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of Ellen Tanner

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Ellen Tanner

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Details draw the eye in Ellen Tanner's art

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When Texas artist Ellen Tanner sits down to work on her paintings, she gets really close.

She puts on one of two sets of magnifying head glasses she has to see the details of her subjects.

Tanner likes to keep the elements of her paintings, inspired by fables and myths, small, encouraging viewers to get up close and personal with her work.

"You have to get closer to see what's really happening. It encourages a more intimate relationship," Tanner said. "Or drives some people crazy."

Southeast Texans will have their chance to look at Tanner's work on display at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas beginning Friday through March 4.

Tanner was working as a graphic designer for the Fossil watch company when she felt she was losing her identity as an artist.

Ellen Tanner

As the company saw new design trends, they would ask Tanner to emulate those styles in her work.With her paintings, she can stay true to her aesthetic of muted colors and small details.

Tanner will have works from three series on display at AMSET: "Aesop's Fables," "Love and Loss Families" and "Greek Myths."

While Tanner, 42, is no longer a graphic designer by trade, she still approaches stories and painting as an illustrator.

She was inspired to take on her the fables series after finding a book of Aesop's stories at her grandmother's house.

"Images started flashing through my head of ways I would illustrate that if I had the opportunity to do so," Tanner said. "It's just such a rich collection."

That's where Tanner started about 10 years ago, mostly with animals.

Then she began researching Victorian mourning traditions and created "Love and Loss Families," which tries to capture sadness and seriousness often missing in images today.

"There was something so beautiful about these pictures from the Victorian times," Tanner said. "There's such depth to them."

Now, she's tackling a new collection of stories - Greek Myths.

Tanner said shes always has been obsessed with mythology but thought she needed to become a better painter before putting her ideas down.

"I finally kind of felt like my skills were at a level that I could tackle all the different things going on in those stories," Tanner said.

For each painting, Tanner does an extensive amount of research, collecting about 100 images of inspiration. She thinks about the story as a whole and then breaks them down.

"It's a fun challenge to read these stories and think about what moments you're going to capture," Tanner said.

Once she has collected the images she'll use for inspiration, she draws from elements to create her own paintings.

Tanner starts each with a grisaille, or grayish brown layer of paint. She then layers color on top, essentially painting each work three times. She said it takes about three months to complete a painting.

"The art I'm most drawn to is old paintings from the 1500s when they worked with layers of colors," Tanner said. "It's just kind of been me trying to teach myself how to do that."

While she's done her best to match it, she still feels like something is missing.

But viewers don't seem to notice.

Tanner's AMSET exhibit will be her second. At her first at Moody Gallery in Houston, she said people were receptive to the stories she tells in her work.

"It was really fun to see the delight that people had in the details and the colors," Tanner said.

Art buffs interested in learning more about Tanner's work can attend the exhibit's opening reception, where she will give an artist's talk.